Early Pearl Jam, man. I gotta say - I started this project to get away from listening to my 90’s alt rock and grunge favorites endlessly, to break away from the cycle of mostly loving music that my demographic is supposed to love.

But even more than 300 albums into my quest, Pearl Jam just scratches an itch in my head. I’m sure there’s a scientific explanation - music during our brain’s formative years, and all that - but I don’t even care about that. Pearl Jam is connected to so many great memories that I’ll never be able to look at their music with fresh eyes. I’ll always see college road trips and basement ping pong tournaments and the first time I saw PJ in concert - when Eddie Vedder handed his onstage wine bottle (a common move of his, at the time) to the guy next to me and we finished it to the guitar solo of “Alive.”

I’ll always associate Pearl Jam’s music with my first electric guitar, with the guitar tabs (a quick and easy way to avoid actually learning to read music) I’d print out on the school computer and put in my binders to study all day before going home and trying to learn to play the songs.

Pearl Jam at Bonnaroo 2016. Photo by Dave’s beer-soaked cell phone - I’m amazed you can even make out their faces with all the jumping around I was doing

I can honestly say I’ll never understand people who dislike Pearl Jam - not because I think they’re wrong, or because there aren’t legitimate reasons to dislike the band, but because I simply don’t have the distance from PJ’s music to make a fair evaluation. I’ll just never get it, no matter how passionately someone might make the case that they’re the worst band ever formed. I’ve been getting better at identifying music I like that many wouldn’t, and understanding the reasons behind that difference of opinion, but not in this case. PJ simply can’t be one of those bands for me, and I figure it’s better to be honest than pretend to tolerate any slander against the band’s dopeness. If you don’t like them, you’re not wrong, I’m just going to use my prerogative as a fan and choose not to understand your opinion because it’ll just ruin my fun.

But in all seriousness, I think everyone needs that one band (or more, for the lucky) who makes them fall in love with their music without any logical reason necessary. That’s the best part of being a fan, after all.

As for Pearl Jam’s second album - Vs. is full of classics, it’s got the wild energy of a young band in their prime, and although nothing can quite match Ten in my mind, this album makes a dang good effort.

Jams

“Animal”
“Daughter”
“Dissident”
“Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town”

From the roundup Jamwise #43 - Best Albums of 1993, pt. 2.